Religious Language

Question 1

What are the two main questions to ask about religious language?

Answer 1

How can we accurately talk about God? Is religious language meaningful/less?

Question 2

Which scholars use the Apophatic Way?

Answer 2

Gregory of Nissa, Moses Maimonides, Pseudo-Dionysius, Meister Eckhart

Question 3

Which scholars use the Cataphatic Way?

Answer 3

Ignatius of Loyola, Francis of Assisi, Aquinas and Tillich

Question 4

What is another name for the Apophatic Way?

Answer 4

The Via Negativa

Question 5

What is another name for the Cataphatic Way?

Answer 5

The Via Positiva

Question 6

Which scholar criticised Maimonides example of the ship?

Answer 6

Brian Davies

Question 7

What problem does the Apophatic Way avoid?

Answer 7

Anthropomorphising God

Question 8

What two types of Analogy does Aquinas support?

Answer 8

Analogy of Attribution and Analogy of Proportion

Question 9

What example does Aquinas use of Analogy of Attribution?

Answer 9

The bull’s urine is healthy, therefore the bull is healthy

Question 10

What example does Davies use for Analogy of Attribution?

Answer 10

The bread is good because the baker is good

Question 11

What example is used for Analogy of Proportion?

Answer 11

The child pianist compared to a concert pianist

Question 12

What example does Von Hugel use for Analogy of Proportion?

Answer 12

Comparing the faithfulness of a dog with a human

Question 13

What is Ramsey’s modern theory of Analogy called?

Answer 13

Models and Qualifiers

Question 14

Which scholar suggest religious language is symbolic?

Answer 14

Paul Tillich

Question 15

What is a sign according to Tillich?

Answer 15

Points towards something outside of itself

Question 16

What is a symbol according to Tillich?

Answer 16

points towards and participates in that to which it points

Question 17

What does Tillich call God?

Answer 17

The ground of being

Question 18

Give another name for the Vienna Circle

Answer 18

The Logical Positivists

Question 19

What theory did the Vienna Circle support?

Answer 19

The (Strong) Verification Principle

Question 20

What language was meaningful according to the Strong Verification Principle?

Answer 20

Verified by actual experience or is a tautology

Question 21

Give an example of a tautology

Answer 21

The round circle

Question 22

What did the Vienna Circle conclude about religious language?

Answer 22

It was meaningless

Question 23

What examples did Swinburne use to criticise the verification principle?

Answer 23

All ravens are black; the toys in the cupboard

Question 24

What is Ayer’s book called?

Answer 24

Language, Truth and Logic

Question 25

What theory did Ayer support?

Answer 25

The Weak Verification Principle

Question 26

What did Ayer change about the original Verification Principle?

Answer 26

Statements are meaningful if they can be verified in principle

Question 27

What theory from Hick can be used to challenge the Verification Principle?

Answer 27

Eschatological Verification

Question 28

Which scholar first adopted the Falsification Principle?

Answer 28

Karl Popper

Question 29

What is the debate about religious language and the falsification principle?

Answer 29

The University Debate

Question 30

Which scholars were involved in the falsification debate?

Answer 30

Flew, Hare and Mitchell

Question 31

What does Flew say about religious statements?

Answer 31

They die the death of a thousand qualifications

Question 32

What parable does Flew use?

Answer 32

The explorers in the jungle

Question 33

What does Hare suggest all religious believers have?

Answer 33

Blicks

Question 34

What example does Hare use?

Answer 34

The student who thinks all the university professors are out to kill him

Question 35

What example does Mitchell use?

Answer 35

The stranger and the resistence fighter

Question 36

What is Mitchell's point about believers?

Answer 36

They are aware of problems but don't allow them to destroy their faith

Question 37

Name Wittgenstein's theory about religious language

Answer 37

Langauge Games

Question 38

What is another phrase for a language game?

Answer 38

A form of life

Question 39

Why is univocal lanaguage of no use when talking about God?

Answer 39

The word means the same thing when applied to humans ans God e.g. love or goodness which anthropomorphises God

Question 40

Why is equivocal language of no use when talking about God?

Answer 40

We don’t know what a word means when it is used to talk about God which leads to agnosticism

Question 41

What is cognitive language?

Answer 41

Statements that are factual, can be true or false

Question 42

What is non-cognitive language?

Answer 42

Statements that are not about facts, are not subject to being true or false e.g. poetry

Question 43

Which scholar would want to use religious language cognitively?

Answer 43

Aquinas (any Cataphatic way)

Question 44

Which scholar could be used to argue that religious language is non-cognitive?

Answer 44

Wittgenstein